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behavior change

How far would you be willing to go for your favorite afternoon snack? Imagine the vending machine near your office is out of it. What would you do next? Some of us would simply choose another snack or just go back to our desk, but others would walk farther to the next vending machine, and still others would drive to the closest convenience store.

I recently visited a local school in the Bristol area of the UK to talk about an upcoming wellbeing project. As I walked into the head teacher’s office I noticed a poster that detailed a strategy for increasing performance in young students. The centrepiece of that strategy was “Growth Mindset”. At first, I was delighted that brilliant work conducted by an academic in the US (Carol Dweck) had made it all the way across the pond and into this very applied setting. Then, I felt slightly worried.

6 more weeks of winter. This week's roundup covers vacations, parenthood, racism, and nostalgia. Recently in the news, written a post, or have selections you'd like us to consider? Email us, use the hashtag #SPSPblog, or tweet us directly @spspnews.

In this week's roundup we catch up from the Thanksgiving weekend, with posts on giving, happiness, and persuasion. Recently in the news, written a post, or have selections you'd like us to consider? Email us, use the hashtag #SPSPblog, or tweet us directly @spspnews.

People engage in many behaviors that are bad for their health such as smoking, not exercising, eating unhealthily or drinking too much alcohol. What is intriguing is that people continue pursuing an unhealthy lifestyle even when they are confronted by information that tells them that these choices are bad for them; they minimize the risks or even deny them altogether. Self-affirmation theory (Steele, 1988) offers an explanation of why people do this.